The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to appliances and more particularly, to a storage container that may be used to store clothes and/or other articles within a washing machine or dryer, a laundry appliance that incorporates such storage container, and a method for freshening the clothes and/or other articles.
Laundry appliances such as clothes washing machines and clothes dryers come in various configurations, including top load and front load configurations that define by their orientation the way in which a user loads articles into the machine. Regardless of the configuration, however, washing machines generally include a housing or a cabinet in which a wash tub is disposed for containing wash and rinse water. The housing includes a top or side cover with an opening to provide access to the tub. A lid is attached to the cover for movement between open and closed positions of the washing machine. A wash basket that receives the articles is rotatably mounted within the wash tub, and in certain configurations an agitating element is rotatably positioned within the wash basket.
Many laundry rooms are small, without much room to store clothes and other articles that need washing. This means that many users must use valuable space within the laundry rooms to store such clothing and/or articles until is time to wash them.
A need therefore exists for a removable storage container that may be stored within a laundry appliance when the appliance is not in use, which maximizes storage of articles inside the appliance, and which addresses the lack of space in a laundry room without modifying the functionality or the dimensions of the appliance.